Hosiery inspection device



Patented Sept. 11, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application October 4, 1949, Serial No.'119,'515

.3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a hosiery inspection -:device and has ior its primary object to facilitate the detection of flaws in knitted hosiery.

Another :object is to detect the length of an article of hosiery during the inspection of the article for flaws.

A further object is to permit the inspection of articles of hosiery having .difierent foot size so that a single machine may be employed to inspect hosiery of multiple size by the simple expedient of substituting lone hosiery support form for another possessing a difierent foot size.

A .still further object is to illuminate the in- -terior of an article of hosiery so that any flaws contained therein may be easily and quickly detected and to prevent the twisting of the conductors through which energy is conducted to the illuminating means and possible breakage of such conductors.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this invention which embodies among its features a pedestal, a'carrier mounted on the pedestal to rotate about a horizontal axis and a hosiery supporting form demountably mounted on the carrier and projecting horizontally from one end thereof.

Other features include a hollow hosiery supporting form of translucent material demountably mounted on the carrier and projecting horizzontally from one end thereof and a longitudinal row of graduation marks on said form by which the length of an article of hosiery mounted on the form can be determined.

Still other features include an elongated illumina-ting means carried by the: carrier and projecting into the hosiery supporting form and means selectively to energize and deenergize the illuminating means by the movement of the foot of an inspector.

Still other features include a stop member carried by the pedestal and a stop carried by the carrier for engaging the stopmember and, limiting rotary movement of the carrier to less than 360.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of a hosieryinspection device embodying the features of this invention and showing portions thereof in .sec-

tionsmore clearly to illustrate certain details of construction.

Figure 2 is a side view of the hosiery inspection device illustrated in Figure 1 showing a portion of the hosiery supporting form in section, and further illustrating diagrammatically a foot treadle and push button by which the illuminating means may be energizedanddeener gized, and

or otherwise secured to the top of the table or bench in and is provided with an enlarged head 18 in which a carrier designated generally 20 is mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis preferably upon anti-friction bearings 22. F- I he carrier 20 comprises a tubular body which extends throughthe head [8 and formedirin-termediate the ends of the tubular body 24 is -an outstanding annular flange 26 carrying a radially extending stop 28; the purpose ofwhich will more fully hereinafter appear. The major portion of the tubular body 24is of circular cylindrical cross section, while that portion 30 of the tubular body projecting beyond the flange 26 is of substantially elliptical form to project into the adjacent end of a hosiery supporting form to be more fully hereinafter described. A suitable stop member 32 is carried by the end of the head [8 adjacent the flangeZ-B and projects horizontally into the path of movement of the stop 2 8, as will be readily understood upon reference to the drawings. a l

Carried by the portion 30 of the carrier 2-0 and entering into the end of said portion 311 remote from the flange 26 -is a conventional lamp sock.- et 34 in which a conventional elongated electrically energized lamp 36 is supported. A con-- ductor cable 38' containing conductors 40 and 42 is coupled at one 'endto the lamp socket 34 in a conventional manner and leads through the tubular body 24 beyond the end thereof remote from the socket 34. One of these conductors is connected through a conventional conductor 44 to any suitable source of electrical energy while the conductor 42 leads to one side of a conventional push button 46, the opposite side of which is connected through a medium of the conductor 48 to the side o fthe power source opposite to that of which the conductor 44 is connected. The push button 46 is preferably mounted on a base 50 upon which a suitable treadle 52 is pivotally coupled as at 54 and this treadle is prefthe illumination of the lamp 36.

erably urged upwardly under the influence of a spring 56 so as to hold it out of conduct with the push button until such time as pressure is applied by the foot of an inspector to depress the push button and cause energy to flow into the illuminating means 36 and thus energize the latter.

In order to properly support an article of hosiery in position to be inspected, a hosiery supporting form designated generally 58 is employed. This hosiery supporting'form comprises a hollow body formed of a suitable transparent or translucent material, such as glass or a plastic composition. The form 58 comprises a leg portion 68 and a foot portion 62, the latter being constructed to fit a given size of hosiery. In instances where the hosiery supporting form 58 is formed of a transparent material, the inside surface is preferably frosted or sand blasted to produce light defusion and prevent glare upon Both the leg portion 68 and the foot portion 62 of the hosiery supporting form 58 are of substantially elliptical cross section, as will be readily understood upon reference to Figure 3 and formed along the upper side of the leg portion 60 and extending from a point near the junction of the leg portion 68 'with the foot portion 62 is a longitudinal row of graduations 64 by which the length of an article of hosiery mounted on the hosiery supporting form 58 may be determined. The end of the leg portion 60 of the hosiery supporting form 58 remote from the foot portion 62 is fitted over -the portion 30 of the carrier 28 and held thereon by frictional contact therewith. It'will thus be seen that when articles of hosiery of one size are to be inspected, a hosiery supporting form '58 possessing that particular size of foot portion '52 is selected and mounted on the portion 38 merely by longitudinal movement over the illuminating means 36. 'supporting forms 58 may be readily interchanged In this way the hosiery to suit the foot size of the hosiery to be inspected. In use a hosiery supporting form of the preferred size is selected and mounted on the carrier 28 as illustrated in the drawings and the inspector then will pull an article of hosiery over the foot portion 62 thereof and onto the leg portion 50. With the article of hosiery thus in place, pressure is applied on the treadle 52 to energize the lamp 36 and by rotating the hosiery supporting form 58 and the carrier 20 about the horizontal axis thereof flaws in the article of hosiery can be readily detected. Complete rotation of the form 58 and the carrier 20 is prevented, however, by reason of the engagement of the stop 28 with the stop member 32 so that danger of twisting and injuring the conductors in the cable 38 will be eliminated. At the same same is withdrawn from the hosiery supporting form 58 and another article of hosiery may be placed on the form for inspection.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is- 1. In a hosiery inspection device of the type having a pedestal and a carrier mounted thereon to rotate about a horizontal axis, means for supporting a hosiery item on said carrier comprising a hosiery form having a contour corresponding substantially to a leg and foot, said form being mounted on said carrier for rotation therewith about the longitudinal axis of the leg portion of said form, and a longitudinal row of graduation marks carried by the leg portion of the form for cooperation with the foot portion of the form in determining the length of hosiery mounted on the form during the inspection of said hosiery.

2. In a hosiery inspection .device of the type having a pedestal and a carrier mounted thereon to rotate about a horizontal axis, means for supporting a hosiery item on said carrier comprising a hollow translucent hosiery form having a contour corresponding substantially to a leg and foot, said form being mounted on the carrier for rotation therewith about the longitudinal axis of the leg portion of said form, means carried by the carrier and extending into the hosiery form for illuminating said form, and a longitudinal row of graduation marks carried by the leg portion of the form for cooperation with the foot portion of said form in determining the length of hosiery mounted on the form during the inspection thereof.

3. In a hosiery inspection device of the type having a pedestal and a carrier mounted thereon to rotate about a horizontal axis, means for supporting a hosiery item on said carrier comprising a hollow translucent hosiery form having a contour corresponding substantially to a leg and foot, said form being demountably mounted on MARIETTA HAR'ILINE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 965,873 Colton Aug. 2, 1910 983,320 Snyder Feb. 7, 1911 1,539,626 Bartlett May 26, 1925 1,727,498 Ammon Sept. 10, 1929 1,935,267 Hewitt Nov. 14, 1933 2,485,820 Gilbert Oct. 25, 1949 

